TownMouse CountryMouse Irelandhttps://townmousecountrymouseireland.com
Irish Fashion Blog taking you through the fashion lives of a girl-about-town in Dublin city and her sartorial sister in the wilds of the West…Thu, 10 Aug 2017 10:27:58 +0000enhourly1http://wordpress.com/https://secure.gravatar.com/blavatar/619aafbb2af974aba500d46d94cfe25b?s=96&d=https%3A%2F%2Fs2.wp.com%2Fi%2Fbuttonw-com.pngTownMouse CountryMouse Irelandhttps://townmousecountrymouseireland.com
How to dress for autumn when everyone is wearing the same thinghttps://townmousecountrymouseireland.com/2017/08/10/how-to-dress-for-autumn-when-everyone-is-wearing-the-same-thing/
https://townmousecountrymouseireland.com/2017/08/10/how-to-dress-for-autumn-when-everyone-is-wearing-the-same-thing/#respondThu, 10 Aug 2017 10:27:53 +0000http://townmousecountrymouseireland.com/?p=12919]]>Post by TM

Magazines may write about a/w trends, but you know and I know that everyone’s going to be in the same ‘a/w’ clothes they wear every year: jumpers, jeans, scarves over tops (all day long) and skirts with black tights.

You might scoff and remark that nobody was wearing a chunky knit over a midi skirt till a couple of years ago (with the exception of your granny who lives on an Aran island), but we WILL wear that combo again. A comfy midi skirt and big huge jumper make an excellent cosy day ensemble.

You see, over the last few seasons, trends haven’t really changed that much. In the age of fast fashion, trends are slowing down. You can only really wear ‘fashion’ pieces inside anyway, and when it’s cold out, style tends to go out the door.

But look in any fashion magazine and they’ll tell us to get ready for these ‘trends’: winter florals, Heritage, grunge, shimmer. Sound familiar? They should; they’re the same trends mags have been writing about since 2013. This year, they’ve added Atomic Blonde ’80s, Unrealistic Futuristic, red and ruffles – blah de blah, we’ve still heard it all before.

There is absolutely no need to go shopping for an autumn / winter wardrobe if you already own leather boots (high and low), an oversized coat and a few big jumpers. Except if you’re the type of person who checks the next day weather forecast and picks your outfit for the next out the night before. Then, you can have a bit of fun.

There is a way to look stylish and different while still being warm and cosy like everyone else. You just have to look at how the fashion big boys interpreted predictable trends this time round.

Red

Red is the most obvious colour of the season. This year, wear it head to toe.

Givenchy a/w 17

Tights

The default tights setting this time of year is black and opaque. But you should make like Céline, Balenciaga and Mulberry and fancy them up. Clashing prints and colours encouraged.

Mulberry a/w 17

Ruffles and frills

Girlish frivolry is usually reserved for the summer months, but this autumn / winter, we’re teaming our ruffs with jumpers and boots. And it’s a good look.

As much as I love sifting through Instagram and Pinterest boards, and feeling time pass me by, etching yet more wrinkles on my aging face (I’ve a birthday coming up, can you tell?) as I decide important points like what works better, a Breton top with jeans or with a skirt, I still find that the most effective means of drawing outfit and style inspiration is plain old people watching.

I was wandering around Dublin recently, trying to navigate the nightmare that is crossing at College Green when in the midst of the crowd I spied a really cool woman. She was obviously an out-of-towner here on a visit; along with her trusty cream trenchcoat and wide brimmed hat she was wearing impeccably white trainers, the likes of which are usually purchased in anticipation of a load of site seeing. Anyway, she was bowing to sensible tourist fare which is probably not her usual style, but a nod to that came in the form of a great blow-dry and a flash of red lipstick on a backdrop of bare skin. Nothing sort of genius.

I’ve been trying to emulate that look – fairly ordinary but groomed everyday style uplifted by bright red lips – but my skin is far from perfect (the aforementioned wrinkles are complimented by pores the size of dinner-plates and discoloration from years of picking at spots), so so far I’ve only been able to pull off the full face glamour girl look. Which, in fairness, is something I’m totally in to too!

Red lipstick can elevate not only your outfit but your mood, and your confidence. There really is one to suit just about everyone, with MAC’s Ruby Woo currently ruling the roost in the makeup world. I go for the high street version with the supermodel approval, Kate Moss’s red collection for Rimmel, Her favourite is Shade No.1, so naturally that’s what I go for too (and it’s only €7.50!)

So, how to perfect the bare skin look when you’re a full-coverage devotee like I am, and how to keep that fire engine red staying put while you go about your daily business? I asked an expert – TM, with herBeaut.iehat on! – and she told me to try this:

Prep your skin with a foundation setting mist or alternatively a primer (she recommends Smashbox but I like Catrisse)

Buff loose powder on to your skin (helps fill in the holes maybe?)

Apply your base – for this look I’m going to try a tinted moisturiser and apply with a damp beauty blender, rather than my usual full-coverage foundation that I apply with a trowel.

Brush on some more loose powder (a little goes a long way)

Spritz on your setting mist ( I don’t have setting mist so I’m skipping this step)

If it still looks a bit too matte, or done, try putting on a bit of highlighter on your cheeks.

If you have lip primer smather that on before your lipstick and leave to set (TM likes MAC Prep and Prime Lip).

If you don’t, this is what I do: Powder lips, apply lipstick, blot with tissue – repeat twice or thrice! It’s laborious but does work in keeping your lippy on for an extended time (you probably don’t need to do quite so many layers if you’re using a higher end, well pigmented product but if you’re a cheapo like me you could even repeat once more again!)

Make sure your eyebrows are groomed – it helps if they’re either really strong or really faint, strangely enough.

I came across this tip on another Beaut.ie article earlier: black mascara on the top lashes and brown on the lower lashes helps to tone down and soften the look while making your eyes look nice and bright.

I won’t be able to resist drawing a line of liquid eye-liner as well, just to finish it off.

Yep, it does take longer and more care to pretend you’re not wearing a full face of makeup than if you’re going full glamour puss, but when your friends tell you that you’re the spit of Alexa Chung it’ll all be worth it.

I came across a pap snap of Diane Keaton last week, and it reminded me that she’s a Goddamn style icon and how the ef could I have forgotten that? Since the 1970s she’s been dressing like your eccentric aunt, always doing her own thing. You can’t exactly call her stylish in the, say, Amal Clooney way, but she definitely has style.

Remember that time she wore a thousand hats?

The day I saw the candid photo of Diane was the day Man Repeller published their now viral piece on ‘menocore‘ which is pretty bloody frustrating, Man Repeller, because I thought of it first, and TMCM could do with those clicks. Except you put it into very good words and wrapped it up in a very nice term so, thanks, Man Repeller. You’ve saved me from writing about 400 words.

You may wonder why paps are snapping a septuagenarian when there are plenty of big browed, skinny twenty-somethings about. The reason is Hampstead, a terrible looking new movie she’s in. With Brendan Gleeson, I might add, another fine actor who doesn’t deserve to be in terrible looking movies. But so it goes.

Analysing Diane Keaton’s style isn’t a new thing, of course. She is Annie Hall (DiANE, and Hall is her real last name). The film was built around her personality and style, and that’s why it’s so iconic. She must have a clause built into her contracts that she gets to wear her own clothes (except for maybe the Father of the Bride movies) because it’s clearly Annie’s wardrobe in the role and not other Annie’s (The First Wives Club) or Erica’s (Something’s Gotta Give).

Annie’s style has evolved the way anyone’s would; one grows out of wearing what one wore as a twenty-something. But recently, her ‘mature’ wardrobe has become exactly what this thirty-something finds herself wanting to wear. And a lot of other thirty-somethings, according to Man Repeller’s Menocore Movement.

Diane Keaton was honoured at the AFI, and Meryl Streep turned up dressed as Diane Keaton

Some followers of ‘menocore’ go for the ageing yoga teacher school of style: harem pants, beads, tank-tops, etc.

Diane is all about the mannish tailoring with skirts, boots and, obviously, hats. Here she is drinking a bottle of wine on a chat show and talking about her celebrity friends. What an outfit.

Dressing ‘like Diane Keaton’ can be read in two ways. Her wardrobe is worth copying, for sure. It’s classic and classy but with a little eccentricity thrown in. But the more important interpretation is to dress how you want to. DK has been doing it for years, she’s copying nobody, and that, friends, is that.

Summer festivals aren’t all music and camping and bags of cans y’know. Sure, you have your Body & Souls and your Electric Picnics and that’s great, but there are also a ton of local community events with fun for all the family, as well as major affairs like the Galway International Arts Festival. I’m currently terribly excited about the Galway Film Fleadh, one of the most wonderful times of the year for me, and planning my outfits for each day accordingly, as Country Mice do.

Galway is a UNESCO City of Film, thanks in no small part to the Film Fleadh, which is now in its 29th year. On a bright sunny day it can be confused with Cannes (kinda), and that’s where I’m taking my inspiration for my festival wardrobe (though with this drizzly, wintry weather I might be better off looking to January’s Sundance…). No! I shall not be moved. Cannes and its sun-shiney glamour it is.

This certainly wouldn’t look out of place on the steps of the Town Hall Theatre!

The morning programme is host to a selection of short films, so what better time than to show off your pins (and who doesn’t love a fashion pun?!)? I’m a fan of the city shorts look, leave denim cut-offs to our music festival cousins. I’ll be wearing flats, and throwing a jumper on over my shirt.

Following your morning viewing and before your afternoon show, a decent lunch should be on the cards (tryThe Black Gate Cultural Centre, it’s but a stone’s throw from the Town Hall Theatre and the Cinemobile and has the best selection of French wine in town, and you’re being cultural, it would be wrong not to have a glass of good wine with your cheese board!). If you have time to change, a gamine Gallic look is what to go for. You can always wear a Breton top, casual jeans, espadrilles and jaunty scarf, or you could give something like these looks a whirl.

The evening is typically when the most anticipated films get their showings, and you’re sure to spot a few industry movers and shakers mingling with the regular people like you and me. Might as well make a bit of an effort then (but not too much of an effort), especially for the after party down in the Rowing Club (entry applies to holders of tickets to one of each day’s films only, so your in-crowd ensemble will go down a treat here!)

I’ll be out and about in my film festival getup until Sunday, and am sure to be documenting my progress over on Twitterand Instagram– come say hi!

Lucinda Chamber is a 50-something-year-old woman who was fired from her job.

But why is everyone from Teen Vogue to Man Repeller and non-fashiony publications from the New York Times to The Guardian to The Irish Times talking about it? Why should anyone care that this talented, creative, unique individual with 36 years of respect in the fashion industry shall henceforth be known as the woman who shat on Vogue?

Because she was honest. She’s clearly rather miffed at her unceremonious departure from an institution she probably thought she could leave on her own terms (she says her firing by new editor Edward Enniful took all but five minutes), but she’s honest.

She may also have become severely institutionalised. They say that happens to a person who works in the same place for over seven years. Chambers worked her way up from the accounts department to Fashion Editor – a role she held for 25 years. That’s a lot of time to become very used to the place, and to become overly secure in your place in it.

But despite being at the core of Vogue for decades, she insists that she never “led a Vogue-y kind of life”. And yet she seems like the most Vogue-y person ever, wearing homemade tutus to work and whatnot (that happened). Then again, she entered fashion mag life in the ’80s when most staffers got the job because of who they knew. Chambers got to where she got on merit and hard work and luck. If she wasn’t a Vogue-y sort of person back then, she is now.

Her replacement is Venetia Scott; a former Vogue staffer turned fashion photographer turned back into a Vogue staffer – and Edward E’s first hire as Editor-in-Chief. It’s a classic out with the old in with the new tactic and long-termers reaching retirement age shouldn’t have been surprised that he wants to put his own stamp on things.

New bosses often inherit staff, and this often leads to problems. The boss may have a vison that the staff member just doesn’t fit into, and the staff member may hate the new head’s vision. It can’t work.

It doesn’t stop a fired employee from being resentful, though, and airing feelings like this can backfire. I once vented about former employment experience in a job interview, and when I had finished, I knew I had blown my chances of getting the job. Once a venter, always a venter.

People who knew her name will remember her legacy, the rest of the Internet reading world will know her as a bitter former employee.

]]>https://townmousecountrymouseireland.com/2017/07/06/harry-voguer-and-the-lucinda-chambers-of-secrets/feed/0https _blueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com_uploads_card_image_526256_466b4379-6eb2-4fce-be2d-35bdaf3a2390townmousecountrymouseirelandlucindachambersviavogueTrend Watch: That Voluminous Pink M&S Dresshttps://townmousecountrymouseireland.com/2017/06/29/style-watch-that-voluminous-pink-ms-dress/
https://townmousecountrymouseireland.com/2017/06/29/style-watch-that-voluminous-pink-ms-dress/#commentsThu, 29 Jun 2017 09:59:39 +0000http://townmousecountrymouseireland.com/?p=12451]]>There’s a dress that, according to the Mail Online is dividing the nation, and that loud Mumsnet voices refer to as “that awful pink M&S dress” . It’s voluminous, it’s pink (well, fuschia), it’s €60 from M&S and I bought it a few weeks ago, largely because Vogue UK said it was a standout piece “a simple fluted sleeve sheath that has something of Roksanda or Delpozo about it.” So The Mail hates it and Vogue loves it; result!

Well, kinda. It’s not an easy dress to wear, deceptive in its loose style. It’s too long for me for one thing, and without a very tight pair of Spanx gives the impression that I may be attempting to conceal a bun in the oven. Not ideal when the event I want to wear it to is my boyfriend’s nephew’s Christening. But I really like the back and the elegant way that it falls, and the flute sleeves are a subtle little nod to one of summer’s trends. But still, I’m on the fence.

Even on this model it’s not totally flattering (although she has been put in the wrong shoes; am I the only one who agrees that black shoes with bright dresses are terrible, unless, I suppose, there’s another bit of black in the outfit to pick it up?). And yet, from my fence I’m drawn to it and want to make it work. Higher, brighter shoes and a pair of tassle earrings should do the trick, no?

I was watching Okja last night, Netflix’s latest offering that was both booed and cheered when it was screened at Cannes (it too is dividing audiences, I smell a trend!). In it one of my all time faves Tilda Swinton brilliantly plays an image-obsessed CEO of a an evil multi-national corporation, and in her attempt to swing the public perception around in its feelings towards a giant pig reared in Korea by a plucky little girl and her grandfather, she dons a hanbok for a PR stunt, purportedly designed all by herself. It is actually a modified piece from Chanel’s 2016 Resort collection, which was staged in Seoul and inspired by traditional Korean dress.

Chanel Resort 2016

Hanbok specifically refers to the dress worn in the Joson era that consists of a neat empire line top half that descends into a very full, full length skirt and is typically worn in bright colours. Obviously they’re no longer worn as everyday dress, but you will see them on brides for their traditional wedding ceremony before changing into their slinky white number for the reception. I think they’re lovely, vibrant and striking; and not a million miles away from the aesthetic of the pink dress, which is possibly why I’m veering towards it and its dramatic presence more and more.

Tilda Swinton in Okja

Ole pinky is languishing there in my wardrobe, from where I take it out from time to time and size it up. It’s a very attention seeking piece, and there are few ways to tone it down bar wearing hair very simply and keeping accessories to a bare minimum. Internet detractors sneer that the fashion set will probably love it (they do!) but that mere civilians will be baffled and horrified by it (they are!), so it will take a few glasses of champagne prior wearing to be confident enough to go out into the world in it. Tell you what; next time I try it on, complete with hair done and all the trimmings, I’ll stick a pic up on Instagram. Maybe you’ll be able to help me! The event is only three weeks away so it’s almost decision time; I’ll keep you posted!

]]>https://townmousecountrymouseireland.com/2017/06/29/style-watch-that-voluminous-pink-ms-dress/feed/1townmousecountrymouseirelandPinkM&amp;S3M&amp;S2Chanel 1Tilda 1If you don’t know what to wear in a heatwave, just wear thishttps://townmousecountrymouseireland.com/2017/06/21/if-you-dont-know-what-to-wear-in-a-heatwave-just-wear-this/
https://townmousecountrymouseireland.com/2017/06/21/if-you-dont-know-what-to-wear-in-a-heatwave-just-wear-this/#respondWed, 21 Jun 2017 11:08:23 +0000http://townmousecountrymouseireland.com/?p=12404]]>Post by TM

You don’t have to dress like you’re going to Coachella when the temperature goes up past 25 degrees. Unless you’re in your early twenties, then go for it. Yes, even if you have to go to work. It’s called summer, boss.

When you’re in your early thirties, like me, and you don’t care for the short shorts and crop top look anyway (so over it), you probably want to look a little more put together. And you probably want to wear something you can turn up to work in after an evening of white wine in your garden, continue on for cocktails on the terrace and then wear the next day because you’ll be meeting up with different people and they won’t have seen you in that outfit yet. Let’s hope you’re stocked up with Febreeze.

Keeping it simple is the sitch. We’re talking one loose piece of clothing and breathable shoes. And a good bag and minimal jewellery. (And maybe a scarf.) And definitely shades.

OH! And because we’re strong independent women who totally have our shit together despite the at-work hangover, your heatwave outfit must include sleeves. Totally not because you can’t be bothered applying and reapplying your Factor 50. That’s totally not the reason why the longer your dress is the better, neither.

When it comes to your face, don’t fuss with makeup. Full brows, mascara and lip stuff will do (over full coverage foundation for me, because not even the heat will move my Double Wear).

Hair: pulled back.

The point is when it’s simple, it’s chic. When everyone else is in their Ibiza clothes trying their hardest to look like we get this weather all the time, be the one acting like you’re genuinely used to it.

Keep hydrated, wear SPF and go forth and complain that it is “almost too hot”.

Hello people of the tent-dwelling, cider-drinking, music-loving persuasion – festival season is about to kick off, with Body & Soul being only two weekends away and countless others underway after that until September. Excited yet, or chewing your nails over what to bring in your overnight bag? Festival dressing in this emerald isle of ours requires options for all certainties, which include getting things spilled on you, sunburn, soggy feet and careless people getting their flaying limbs caught in your multiple necklaces, or worse, tassle earrings.

When you’ve weathered one too many of these joys over a few years of festival attendance (ie you’re in your 30s and you just can’t be arsed anymore), it’s time to make a change for practicality and comfort, not over, but on a par with style. Let me be your world-weary guide.

DAY ONE

You’re at your peak today, and don’t forget it. Make sure you take the majority of your Instagram snaps in the evening’s magic light, when your hair is still fresh and your under-eye circles are still concealable, and wear your most festivally outfit now before you throw away your bangles and feathers in favour of tomorrow’s simple combo.

DAY TWO

Today you will rise early to fully enjoy the worth of your weekend ticket. You won’t have drunk your whole quota of alcohol, because 1. you’ve learned from that expensive mistake and 2. you also know that the two-day hangover is not worth it. So you’ll be fresh as a daisy (that’s been picked and left in a vase for a day) and ready to face the day of activity. Get out your Batistte and spray that deo (no time to shower!) and pull on your cool, not trying too hard fashion girl outfit. In the daytime go for mom or boyfriend jeans, a tee, sunnies, plimsolls and a light jacket or cardi. You can change into a summer dress in the evening (you may as well), with a big jumper over it to both keep warm and look totes nonchalant. Accessories make the woman, but keep them small and delicate.

DAY THREE

Your hangover is unavoidable at this stage, and if you aren’t pre-prepared you will make do with wearing what you fell asleep in the night before. So be prepared! Get yourself a pair of leggings and wear those bitches with pride. The dopes shivering in their cut off denim shorts will both hate and envy you in equal measure. You’ll need another t-shirt and jumper for today, just in case, but you could also just recycle them from yesterday if you like to live on the wild side. Let’s face it, you’ll stink anyway ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

DON’T FORGET

A pac-a-mac, if you aren’t properly prepared with one of the many properly nice rain coats that appear to be in this summer.

A bum-bag (also known as my preferred term, a fanny pack). These too are ironically in (as in, some nice ‘influencer’ who’s also getting on in years has convinced enough people that it’s funny-cool to wear one, when actually they secretly know that they’re actually brilliant and practical and you don’t have to constantly check to see if it’s still there and not swiped by a n’er do well), which is good news for you. Stash your emergency money, phone, lipstick (if you’re clear of skin no other make-up is required, a dash of red lippy on an other-wise no makeup face is the definition of cool. I for one will be wearing a full face of makeup every day, as I always do. )

Deodrant!

Dry Shampoo!

Toothbrush and Toothpaste!

Sunscreen (preferably Factor 50)

A big scarf that can be used as multiple things. Actually bring two.

Tights! For when your ‘tan’ becomes patchy after accidentally sleeping on grass.

Spare pair of flip flops

Spare pairs of socks!

SPARE PAIRS OF UNDERWEAR!

Above all, don’t forget that the stars in Coachella whose pics you may have been browsing for festival dressing inspiration are guaranteed to have lovely, warm, dry weather, are in the VIP section and have been decked out by designers and had their hair and faces painted by pros. Your experience will be less luxurious, but more real.

Men

I haven’t forgotten about you. Pay heed to the above checklist (especially the socks item. Especially). All you really need in addition to that is a pair of jeans, 3 changes of t-shirts, sunglasses, trainers and maybe a pair of shorts if you’re that way inclined. Easy peasy.

If you can fit four flagons of Devil’s Bit and a crate of beer you can fit all that. Go forth, have fun, come back safe and sound and ready for our upcoming post on that other kind of summer festival, the city arts festival – perfect for those who like their own bed and who are averse to midge bites.

White jeans are not a trend this summer; they’re a trend every summer. Ever since they first appeared on Sloanes at the polo in 1992 (I assume), white jeans have become synonymous with ‘feminine’ types who stay clean even though they’re in a field full of muck and horse shit and polo men who like to hug them while they’re dripping sweat.

Actually, white jeans first became a thing when Wham! wore them baggy, with tans and white Wham! t-shirts in the mid 1980s. In a world of stone-wash and black jeans that became stone wash because you had them for years and wore them too much, white jeans were a test in womanly endurance. (I know Wham! were men, but the same sartorial theory applied.) If you can keep white jeans clean for the duration of an entire summer’s day complete with dust and ice-cream and grass, well, you deserve to kiss all the boys. (Wham! knows.)

Since the dawn of blink-and-you miss it fashion, white jeans, as I mentioned, are a summer trend every year. Pristine white jeans look rich, so they’re at home on a yacht and in chic summer locations like Cannes and the O.C. Which obviously means, they look richly out of place in somewhere like a West of Ireland town. So far, so Sweet Home Alabama. When you can buy a pair of whities in Penneys for €8 with the possibility of ‘looking rich’, well, you’re on to a winner. JUST KEEP THEM CLEAN.

This summer, the biggest outfit trend is jeans and a ruffle shirt – preferably blue and white striped. Blue jeans are the safe option, but white is the summeriest. If you’re adverse to a summer dress or you can’t be bothered to tan (but you are bothered enough to bare your pale Irish legs) white jeans it is, then.

This past weekend I went on a fabulous weekend away with some of my very best friends. We laughed, we ate, we drank and documented it all on our camera phones, all the better to share via our WhatsApp group. What I saw, from the perspective of one said friend, shook me to my very core.

I have put on a little bit of weight over the past six months; nothing earth shattering, and my doctor says I’m not overweight by any means, but the vast majority of my clothes are definitely that bit too tight and sucking in in pictures isn’t cutting it anymore. The offending photo was taken from behind, as a nice people-in-motion set up, and I had the misfortune to be closest to the camera whilst being squeezed into a pair of jeans that could have done with being a size bigger. The worst part of it was my lumpy, bumpy torso, made to look much larger than it is, because I was also squeezed into an ill-fitting bra. If that damn bra fitted properly, instead of sending handfuls of flab over and under the back strap, if I had worn a pair of pants that had a bit more give, I would have looked fine. The photo has been both haunting me and forcing me to face up to some simple truths.

There is NO shame in sizing up. I have been a size 8 for most of my adult life, which suits my 5’2″ frame, and have often bought size 10 and 12 clothes knowing that they look better than insisting on fitting into the single figure dress size. The thing is, I’ve been neglecting exercise and chomping away on junk food and snacks since (well) before Christmas (not even stopping to look red-carpet ready for TM‘s wedding, loathe as I am to subscribe to the societal pressures on looking stick thin in a bridesmaid dress) so it’s entirely my fault that I’m not the size I want to be, which is really just a few pounds, some healthy meals and an exercise regime away. I am in my 30s now, and my metabolism is nowhere near where it used to be. I have a feeling there are a lot of other women out there facing a similar issue – used to not having to worry about weight, in denial that your body is changing as you get older and not facing up to the fact that your clothes and underwear are getting too small, and you’re beginning to look like an over-stuffed sofa. This essay is really for you.

Like there’s no shame in sizing up, I don’t think there should be any shame in admitting you want to look your best, and while I really do detest the demands for perfect beach bodies, at the same time I don’t want to have curves where they shouldn’t be; like my feckin’ back. I can and will live with a tummy roll or two; a crash diet is an idea for chumps, and would ultimately get me right back where I started when I give up and reach for the pizza again – working out like a demon isn’t going to work for me either, because I know in my heart of hearts that I won’t keep it up. My plan is to stop the snacking, ditch the takeaways and plan proper, healthy meals. Start eating a good breakfast and not deny myself a desert or drink, in moderation and within reason. Get out and about and moving, increasing my heart-rate for at least 30 minutes a day. I want to be healthy and look healthy and be realistic in how I can achieve it and keep it up.

So, back to where wearing clothes that actually fit comes into it. I think any Irish consumer knows that you’re not a one size fits all – you could be an 8 in one shop, a 6 in another and a 12 somewhere else. Likewise, you might be generally a size 12 and struggle to fit into a 16 in a certain outlet, likethis womandid. It’s a real, huge pain but you just have to try stuff on, and prepare to spend time doing it. Get fitted for a bra every time you buy a new one – again, as you get older your body is constantly changing, and that includes your boobs. If you’re in a ‘transition’ size and intent on returning to your already established wardrobe then buy a couple of pairs of trousers and a few tops to tide you over, they can go to a charity shop when you’re finished with them. But seriously, don’t mess around with the undies; when they fit properly, everything else has a good foundation to work with.

One of the things I’ve taken away from the re-evaluation of my current self-image is that I focused on that one photo out of a great many of my friends and me smiling and having a really good time together. In the moments that those photos were being taken I didn’t care a jot about how I looked, although of course my outfits had been planned (I am Country Mouse after all!), that one not carefully enough owing to an unexpected change to the weather forecast. It’s sad, actually, that it was that one moment captured on camera that overshadowed the rest, and says a lot about how much pressure we put on ourselves, that I put on myself. While I am still going to adhere to my idea of how I want to look – when I feel like I look my best I do feel better about myself, let’s face it – I’m also going to take stock that it is certainly not the be all and end all, and being surrounded by people you love, care about and enjoy the company of outweighs, in the end, everything else.